Suicide Squad (2016) movie review

Let me start out by saying that I am not a big DC Comics guy. In fact, I know as much about Suicide Squad as you probably do, which is next to nothing. What I can tell you is that there have been many different iterations of the Suicide Squad in DC Comics dating as far back as 1959. The idea is the same in the comics as the movie, criminals are offered an opportunity to shorten their imprisonment sentences by saving the world.

So let’s get into the movie. I went into this with many of the same preconceived notions as anyone else who has been subjected to the massive advertising campaign that Suicide Squad has unleashed in the popular media. I think I’m gonna do this review a little bit different than I normally do. How about this…

Will Smith as Floyd Lawton aka Deadshot

I do love me some Will Smith, but I have to admit that I’m really exhausted seeing Will Smith play “I’m a bad dude, don’t touch me, I’ll kick yer ass” kind of roles. What am I talking about?! Go watch “Hancock”, “I Am Legend”, “Hitch”, “I, Robot” and several others. Yes, the same vibe in the role in many roles and it’s getting super old. Don’t get me wrong, he does it VERY well. It’s just really boring to see Will do very similar roles over and over again.

That being said, much of the story revolved around Deadshot, namely because it was played by Will Smith, obviously the biggest name in the movie. As best as I can tell, he did the character justice, which obviously is good for the fans. I liked that despite being a “bad guy”, that he was a deep down, a really “good guy”. I liked that a lot actually.

Margot Robbie as Harleen Quinzel aka Harley Quinn

I just love Margot Robbie, she’s just fantastic. This also marks the second time that Margot and Will Smith starred side by side, the first time being “Focus”. I think Margot has the look, has the charisma, and has the look, oh, I already said that. I thought that overall she did the role really, really well. My only drawback was that several of her crazy moments felt rather forced, almost unnatural. I can’t really pin it down, but there was just something about some of her sequences that came across as particularly over-acted; trying WAY too hard.

Harley Quinn is a VERY well known character in the DC universe. I would dare to say that more people could identify her in a line-up than they could identify our current U.S. Vice President Joe Biden. In any case, Harley is pretty bonkers and to portray her well is assuredly a VERY difficult task. But Margot did a pretty darn good job.

Jai Courtney as George Harkness aka Captain Boomerang

I like Jai Courtney, he’s a great action guy, has a solid look and was absolutely hilarious. I have no idea if (Captain) Boomerang is meant to be THIS amusing in the comic, but I thought that he was a fantastic addition to the cast. His clear obsession with pink unicorns is brilliant. Loved it.

Jay Hernandez as Chato Santana aka El Diablo

I’m not gonna say that Jay Hernandez is unknown, because he’s done a lot of TV spots. But for the most part, he has not had a lot of popular lead roles. This one however, he just killed it!!! I think of all the characters, his story was the most sad. His wife and kids died at his hands in a complete accident. I mean that is just heart-breaking and he did whatever he could to try and never misuse his power again. Really fantastic Jay, really fantastic.

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Waylon Jones aka Killer Croc

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje is an actor who anyone who’s watched an action movie will recognize (he was in “Mummy 2”) but has no idea who he is or what his name is. Well, this is Adewale; learn it, love it, croc it!!! In the story, Waylon was born with a genetic disorder that resulted in him essentially becoming a humanoid crocodile. Yep, you read that right, a humanoid crocodile. The issue I had with this character was that understanding some of his speaking lines were rather difficult due to his very deep, very raspy, very toothy dialogue. Aside from that, it was good stuff having him on the team.

Karen Fukuhara as Tatsu Yamashiro aka Katana

Katana is one of two members of the Suicide Squad who isn’t a criminal prior to joining. Karen Fukuhara is a spittin’ image of her comic book adaptation. The sword she carries was used to kill her husband and his soul became trapped in the sword. Now every person she slays with it, their soul becomes trapped within the sword. I can only imagine that being trapped in that sword is awfully crowded, don’t ya think?

Adam Beach as Slipknot

I totally almost forgot about Slipknot (no, not the band). But who cares, he wasn’t cool enough to have an actual introduction and he dies right away (if you read this article this far, you probably don’t care that this is a spoiler). Sorry fellow Adam, moving on…

Joel Kinnaman as Captain Rick Flag

You may recognize Joel as he played Robocop. Now he plays another well trained individual with guns, but this time he’s not a cyborg, instead he’s a guy who falls in love with a chick who is essentially possessed by a 6,000 year old witch. Lucky guy. Joel did fine as Rick Flag. In all honesty, he’s not a super great actor. I think he’s average, he has a great look, I mean the guy is dead sexy. But his acting is… kind of… meh.

Jared Leto as The Joker

Last but most certainly not least, Jared Leto as the Joker. Let me begin by saying that I absolutely adore Jared Leto and think that he is absolutely brilliant. He is an incredible method actor who really gets into his roles and I can fully respect that. I, like many others, went into this trying really hard NOT to compare Jared’s portrayal of the Joker to both Heath and/or Jack. If you don’t know who I’m talking about there, then just close this movie review right now! Anyways, Jared as Joker, I have to say that although I liked how he reinvented the role of Joker, I just wasn’t super impressed. I’m sorry, I went there. I think my judgement of this character had more to do with the look than the acting. If you can look past the pristine green hair and obnoxious silver crowned teeth, then his version of the character was actually pretty darn good. I loved reading in another article that Jared would walk around New York (I think it was New York) laughing in a variety of different ways until he found the one laugh that really creeped people out. I very, very much look forward to seeing Jared’s Joker on the big screen more. Expanding the character and seeing what else he can do with it is a very exciting premise.

Lastly and overall, I’m very pleased that they tied in Ben Affleck’s Batman and several other Justice League members. The entire movie was pretty good. It seemed to move VERY fast, but considering they had to tell introduction stories, set the main story, resolution stories and fight the bad guys, there’s a LOT to pack into one movie. I’m actually really excited to watch this again when it’s released in some kind of special edition, multi-disk, home video delight.

About Adam Warner

I firmly believe that everyone and everything has a story; from childhood to school to social outings to work to vacations or every single thing inbetween. There is always a story involved, this is my chance to share my stories.

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I firmly believe that everyone and everything has a story; from childhood to school to social outings to work to vacations or every single thing inbetween. There is always a story involved, this is my chance to share my stories.

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